Disappearing Giants

Disappearing Giants
Author: Scott Kraus
Publisher: Bunker Hill Publishing, Inc.
Total Pages: 56
Release: 2003
Genre: Nature
ISBN: 9781593730048

The North Atlantic right whale is the most endangered large whale in the oceans today. This is a story of science and rediscovery, of survival and protection, and of research, without which we cannot hope to protect the right whale's habitat.

Vanished Giants

Vanished Giants
Author: Anthony J. Stuart
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Total Pages: 317
Release: 2021-01-28
Genre: Science
ISBN: 022643298X

Featuring numerous illustrations, this book explores the many lessons to be learned from Pleistocene megafauna, including the role of humans in their extinction, their disappearance at the start of the Sixth Extinction, and what they might teach us about contemporary conservation crises. Long after the extinction of dinosaurs, when humans were still in the Stone Age, woolly rhinos, mammoths, mastodons, sabertooth cats, giant ground sloths, and many other spectacular large animals that are no longer with us roamed the Earth. These animals are regarded as “Pleistocene megafauna,” named for the geological era in which they lived—also known as the Ice Age. In Vanished Giants: The Lost World of the Ice Age, paleontologist Anthony J. Stuart explores the lives and environments of these animals, moving between six continents and several key islands. Stuart examines the animals themselves via what we’ve learned from fossil remains, and he describes the landscapes, climates, vegetation, ecological interactions, and other aspects of the animals’ existence. Illustrated throughout, Vanished Giants also offers a picture of the world as it was tens of thousands of years ago when these giants still existed. Unlike the case of the dinosaurs, there was no asteroid strike to blame for the end of their world. Instead, it appears that the giants of the Ice Age were driven to extinction by climate change, human activities—especially hunting—or both. Drawing on the latest evidence provided by radiocarbon dating, Stuart discusses these possibilities. The extinction of Ice Age megafauna can be seen as the beginning of the so-called Sixth Extinction, which is happening right now. This has important implications for understanding the likely fate of present-day animals in the face of contemporary climate change and vastly increasing human populations.

The Ancient Giants Who Ruled America

The Ancient Giants Who Ruled America
Author: Richard J. Dewhurst
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Total Pages: 381
Release: 2013-12-17
Genre: Body, Mind & Spirit
ISBN: 1591437520

A study of the substantial evidence for a former race of giants in North America and its 150-year suppression by the Smithsonian Institution • Shows how thousands of giant skeletons have been found, particularly in the Mississippi Valley, as well as the ruins of the giants’ cities • Explores 400 years of giant finds, including newspaper articles, first person accounts, state historical records, and illustrated field reports • Reveals the Stonehenge-era megalithic burial complex on Catalina Island with over 4,000 giant skeletons, including kings more than 9 feet tall • Includes more than 100 rare photographs and illustrations of the lost evidence Drawing on 400 years of newspaper articles and photos, first person accounts, state historical records, and illustrated field reports, Richard J. Dewhurst reveals not only that North America was once ruled by an advanced race of giants but also that the Smithsonian has been actively suppressing the physical evidence for nearly 150 years. He shows how thousands of giant skeletons have been unearthed at Mound Builder sites across the continent, only to disappear from the historical record. He examines other concealed giant discoveries, such as the giant mummies found in Spirit Cave, Nevada, wrapped in fine textiles and dating to 8000 BCE; the hundreds of red-haired bog mummies found at sinkhole “cenotes” on the west coast of Florida and dating to 7500 BCE; and the ruins of the giants’ cities with populations in excess of 100,000 in Arizona, Oklahoma, Alabama, and Louisiana. Dewhurst shows how this suppression began shortly after the Civil War and transformed into an outright cover-up in 1879 when Major John Wesley Powell was appointed Smithsonian director, launching a strict pro-evolution, pro-Manifest Destiny agenda. He also reveals the 1920s’ discovery on Catalina Island of a megalithic burial complex with 6,000 years of continuous burials and over 4,000 skeletons, including a succession of kings and queens, some more than 9 feet tall--the evidence for which is hidden in the restricted-access evidence rooms at the Smithsonian.

Fall of Giants

Fall of Giants
Author: Ken Follett
Publisher: Penguin
Total Pages: 1010
Release: 2011-08-30
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1101543558

Ken Follett’s magnificent historical epic begins as five interrelated families move through the momentous dramas of the First World War, the Russian Revolution, and the struggle for women’s suffrage. A thirteen-year-old Welsh boy enters a man’s world in the mining pits. . . . An American law student rejected in love finds a surprising new career in Woodrow Wilson’s White House. . . . A housekeeper for the aristocratic Fitzherberts takes a fateful step above her station, while Lady Maud Fitzherbert herself crosses deep into forbidden territory when she falls in love with a German spy. . . . And two orphaned Russian brothers embark on radically different paths when their plan to emigrate to America falls afoul of war, conscription, and revolution. From the dirt and danger of a coal mine to the glittering chandeliers of a palace, from the corridors of power to the bedrooms of the mighty, Fall of Giants takes us into the inextricably entangled fates of five families—and into a century that we thought we knew, but that now will never seem the same again. . . .

Giants

Giants
Author: Rebecca Stefoff
Publisher: Cavendish Square Publishing, LLC
Total Pages: 66
Release: 2015-07-15
Genre: Juvenile Nonfiction
ISBN: 1502605031

Through centuries of storytelling, giants have evolved into monstrous fairy tale creatures with unique powers. This book explores many stories about giants and discusses their place in history as well as in today’s society.

The Book of Giants

The Book of Giants
Author:
Publisher:
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2015-08
Genre: Folklore
ISBN: 9781933865676

Take a journey with the artist and writer Petar Meseldzija, who tells how he was allowed unparalleled access through the Invisible Curtain and into the land of giants. A year in the making, this book's sixteen paintings and nearly ninety drawings bring to life Petar's experiences on this journey and secrets uncovered, going back to ancient times. He shares stories of new discoveries that free giants from the murky abyss of myth and a forgotten past. Told in three stages, The Book of Giants includes the illustrated stories The Giants Are Coming, recounting a dynamic clash that lasted one hundred years; The Little Kingdom, where a giant befriends a nation of humans and becomes their adamant protector against ferocious invaders; The Northern Giants, who embrace the warrior spirit through countless battles; Giant Velles, the story of ignorance and how the strength of goodness perseveres; and The Great Forest, wherein the author discovers little creatures called the keppetz and relates his experiences spent with ogres while on his quest to meet the Golden One and to determine the purpose of his journey. Through the strength of his own power, he discovers his blessings, his limitations and finally his personal myth. Furthermore, you will discover why giants made a push into the underground, followed by their exodus and deliverance to a new land. You'll also learn why the myth of giants is still alive, why their time spent with humans remains elusive and why giants prefer to remain hidden in their world. Join Petar Meseldzija on his journey of discovery.

Waltzes with Giants

Waltzes with Giants
Author: Peter C. Stone
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Total Pages: 245
Release: 2012-07-16
Genre: Nature
ISBN: 1620875039

Waltzes with Giants is a moving portrait of one of the earth’s largest endangered mammals. Mystical and provocative, the book is inspired by a real North Atlantic right whale (Eubalaena glacialis) and her threatened migrations from Atlantic Canada to her calving grounds off the coasts of Georgia and Florida. In the spirit of marine biologist and conservationist Rachel Carson’s sea trilogy, the story evokes the wonder, the sorrow, and the conflicts associated with this member of the suborder Mysticetes (baleen whales). Blending sound science and art with a literary voice, Peter C. Stone takes us beneath the waves to reveal how we have historically decimated many species of whales and other species of fish and aquatic mammals for material gain, even though they are an integral part of the ecosystems upon which we depend. Supported by a glossary of scientific and book-specific words, as well as a list of resource links for the North Atlantic right whale and other marine mammals, Waltzes with Giants is built upon questions. While inviting us to imagine how our consuming culture impacts the ocean with fishing gear, waste, and noise, Stone’s passionate prose and “dreamy, evocative” (School Library Journal) paintings captivate readers of all ages by making science and the marvels of the oceans engaging and comprehensible.

More Giants of the Genre

More Giants of the Genre
Author: Whitley Strieber
Publisher: Wildside Press LLC
Total Pages: 214
Release: 2023-07-12
Genre: Literary Collections
ISBN: 7770047064

Michael McCarty interviews masters of the fantastic, including: Harlan Ellison, Whitley Strieber, Laurell K. Hamilton, Harry Turtledove, Boris Vallejo, Joe R. Lansdale, Max Collins, Charles Grant, The Amazing Kreskin, Richard Matheson, and many more

The Sloth Lemur's Song

The Sloth Lemur's Song
Author: Alison Richard
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Total Pages: 369
Release: 2023-09-05
Genre: Science
ISBN: 0226829499

A moving account of Madagascar told by a researcher who has spent over fifty years investigating the mysteries of this remarkable island. Madagascar is a place of change. A biodiversity hotspot and the fourth largest island on the planet, it has been home to a spectacular parade of animals, from giant flightless birds and giant tortoises on the ground to agile lemurs leaping through the treetops. Some species live on; many have vanished in the distant or recent past. Over vast stretches of time, Madagascar’s forests have expanded and contracted in response to shifting climates, and the hand of people is clear in changes during the last thousand years or so. Today, Madagascar is a microcosm of global trends. What happens there in the decades ahead can, perhaps, suggest ways to help turn the tide on the environmental crisis now sweeping the world. The Sloth Lemur’s Song is a far-reaching account of Madagascar’s past and present, led by an expert guide who has immersed herself in research and conservation activities with village communities on the island for nearly fifty years. Alison Richard accompanies the reader on a journey through space and time—from Madagascar’s ancient origins as a landlocked region of Gondwana and its emergence as an island to the modern-day developments that make the survival of its array of plants and animals increasingly uncertain. Weaving together scientific evidence with Richard’s own experiences and exploring the power of stories to shape our understanding of events, this book captures the magic as well as the tensions that swirl around this island nation.